Once upon a time, before the Golden Ears Bridge was up and taking your toll money, a pair of ferries shuttled commuters on the Fraser River between Fort Langley and Maple Ridge.
Sold off in 2011, the Albion ferries, as they were known, have been kicking it in the waters of Port Coquitlam, and the floating time capsules make the perfect setting for a horror flick.
Fix It In Post Production (Facebook)
It was the vessels--the MV Kulleet and MV Klatawa--that inspired filmmakers Trevor Meyer, Jon Ross, and Will Campbell to make Lure, a crowdfunded horror short set almost entirely on board the ferries.
A friend's family connection accorded Ross access to the Albion ferries, which have basically sat untouched since they were taken out of service in July 2009. When Campbell and Meyer joined Ross on board to look around, taking in the definitely creepy vibes and the rooms that were still full of paperwork and items from nearly a decade ago, a plot for their future film started to form.
Albion ferries in June 2017 (Fit It In Post Production/Facebook)
Lure is the story of teens who, as teens in horror movies tend to do, get lost in the woods...then they have to confront the disturbed old captain still lives on board.
Shooting on the Kulleet and the Klatawa proved to be an exciting and often creepy experience for the filmmakers and their cast and crew. Even though getting down below where the motor is, as Director of Photography Ross did, a way to net some great vantage points, Meyer says their actor was reluctant to make his way down there, too.
In some parts of the ferries, which Meyer says were used about equally in the shoot, the creepiness was upped by infestations of pigeon mites--because of course a pair of rarely used ferry boats make great pigeon habitats--making for an itchy set at times. The eerily unchanged captain's room, too, was like a fully-dressed set--a boon for the spooky factor and the budget.
Fix It In Post Production (Facebook)
The summertime shoot was made possible thanks to a crowdfunding effort the filmmakers launched in the spring. Hoping to raise $3,000, the trio are just over halfway to their goal, with some audio work to be completed to get them to a final cut of the film they can release.
With a goal of getting Lure, and its rare glimpse into the Albion ferries as they are today, into festivals, the filmmakers are hoping they can continue to raise money via their GoFundMe campaign. Once the film is done in the next couple of months, the group has plans to do a ticketed Vancouver screening so locals can enjoy this horror flick with its meld of local history and Stranger Things vibe.
A still from Lure (Fix It In Post Production/Facbook)
Check out this trailer for Lure, released this month, and read more about the project and contribute on the project's GoFundMe page.
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